Research Notes:
Stillwell states, [1]
John Richbell, of Marmaroneck, N. Y., had an only brother, Robert Richbell, who resided at Southampton, England, and who became his heir-at-law. This Robert Richbell had a son, Edward Richbell, Esq., late of the City of Westminster, who in turn had an eldest son and heir, Edward Richbell, of the Parish of St. James, in the County of Middlesex. This last mentioned Edward Richbell, on the 8th of Feb., 1722, for £380, released to the Palmer family, as heir to his great-uncle, John Richbell, all his reversionary interests in the Middle Neck, in Marmaroneck, and, on the 12th and 13th of Aug., 1723, he likewise released, for £400, all his reversionary interests in the West Neck, and the remaining Richbell lands, unto Eve, wife of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and daughter of Frederick Philipse, which lands had been mortgaged, by John Richbell, in his lifetime, with certain reservations.
1648 Of John Richbell it is known that he was in Charlestown, Mass., at this time. (Savage.)
1656, Aug. 8. He owed the estate of Robert Gibson, of Boston, Mass., £36, as appears in the Inventory of that person's effects.
1657, Sept. 18. He made an agreement with Thomas Modiford, of Barbadoes, and William Sharpe, of Southampton, England, merchants, to establish a plantation for the carrying on of trade "in the southwest ports, of New England, in behalf of himself and of subscribers," who were Modiford and Sharpe.
1660, Sept. 5. He went to Oyster Bay, L. I., and bought the land now known as Lloyd's Neck; also land at Matinecock, over which he had a controversy with his Oyster Bay neighbors, which was settled in his favor.
1661 He appears on the Southampton records as a witness to a mortgage.
1661, Sept. 23. He bought lands from the Indians, at Marmaroneck, over which he had a controversy with Thomas Revell, but was sustained by Stuyvesant and his Council, who issued him a patent for the same, in May, 1662. Upon the overthrow of the Dutch, he recorded the evidence upon which he based his title, strengthening it by a supplemental Indian deed, dated June 6, 1666, confirming that of 1661, and later received an English patent for the same, dated Oct. 16, 1668.
1662 He was Constable of Oyster Bay.
1664, July 23. He was addressed, at Boston, (where he was probably temporarily), by Robert Carr and Samuel Mavericke, two of the Commissioners of the Duke of York, in the expedition to subjugate the New Netherlands, who instructed him to make haste to his Long Island habitation and acquaint those favorably disposed to his Majestie's service, to be in readiness for their prompt arrival, and, at the same time issuing a warrant for Mr. Richbell "to presse a horse if occasion should bee, hee pajang for the hire."
John Richbell, like others of his family, was a merchant. He was a man of superior social position, and commonly addressed as Mr. Richbell. His wife, Ann, was the widow Redman and daughter of Margery Parsons, who advanced him goods in the Island of St. Christopher, in the West Indies, long before his arrival at Marmaroneck. On the 14th of Nov., 1668, he cancelled this obligation by deeding her the entire East Neck, and she, Mrs. Parsons, two days later, conveyed this land to her daughter, Ann, wife of John Richbell, as a token of affection and dutiful behavior. To establish her title to this land more fully, her husband, John Richbell, on the 23rd of April, 1669, in consideration of a marriage long since solemnized between them, made a settlement of this land upon her, in a deed of trust to John Ryder. He had apparently no issue.
1684, July 26. John Richbell died, and his wife, who had become vested, in fee, by conveyances from her husband and mother, of the entire East Neck, extending back from the Sound twenty miles, conveyed, 1684, Aug. 8, to her daughter, Mary, and her husband, Capt. James Mott, about thirty acres of this tract.
1697, Dec. 23. Mrs. Richbell conveyed the balance of this estate, inherited from her husband, to Col. Caleb Heathcote, for £600.
1700, Apr. 1. Will of Ann Richbell, of Marmaroneck, "Gentlewoman"; proved Feb. 19, 1700-01, in which she ordered a "decent and comely" burial for her body, at the discretion of her executors, Col. Caleb Heathcote, Mr. Richbell Mott and Lieut. John Horton, and bequeathed:
To her son-in-law, James Mott, £10.
To his son, James Mott, Jr., £15.
To grand-daughters, Ann Gedney, Mary Williams and Mary Mott, each, £40, and a gold ring.
To her daughter, Elizabeth, £80, and her gold ring with an emerald stone in it.
To her daughter, Annie, £60, and a gold chain.
To the rest of her grandchildren, by my two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, who are not, however, named, £10.
To "my two grand-daughters, Jane and Grace, and my grand-children, James and Adam Mott."
Her daughter, Mary Mott, I infer was dead when she wrote her will in 1700. All her legatees were to be paid before her grandson, Adam Mott, received his portion, "because their necessities are greater."
John Richbell, his wife's mother, and his wife's daughter, Mary Mott, were buried in a field adjoining the house of Lieut. James Mott, as appears by an entry in the Town Book, set forth more fully under James
Mott, 3. Here too, doubtless, Ann, John Richbell's widow, was also interred.
Of her children, it is known that Elizabeth Redman became the third wife of the first Adam Mott; that Mary Redman became the first wife of Lieut. James Mott, a son of the first Adam Mott, by his first wife, Jane Hulet, hence it appears that father and son (Adam and James Mott), married sisters; Ann, the third daughter, married John Emerson, of White River, Talbot Co, Md., and was probably the mother of the grandchildren Ann Gedney and Mary Williams.
[1] John E. Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, Vol. 4 (1916), 72, [InternetArchive].